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Friday, September 30, 2011

Check out my 2 book worms poring over their favorite books over breakfast on a Saturday. They used to have their butts glued to the couch in front of the TV during breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays but I told myself that this had to stop. Now, I can't even stop Alycia from reading at the dining table, a habit which she has picked up from me. I always read when I am at the dining table. I have always been reading when I have my meals, so that no precious time is wasted. Do you allow your kids to read at the dining table? I know some parents find this irritating though.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

There was a birthday party held by one of the residents at the pool area on Saturday and a balloonist was hired to decorate the function room. Though we were not one of the guests, the balloonist could not resist Baby's request for a flower balloon. So the kind balloonist made her 3 flower balloons. And my Baby was so happy that she refused to let go of her balloons, even in her sleep.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Recently we found a place that serves authentic Penang food at Lorong Seratus Tahun @ Scott's Gardens, where the newly opened Tesco at Old Klang Road is. Well, not sure if it's really cooked by some chefs from Penang but the food did taste authentic and I loved it. Scott's Garden is a new shopping mall (with Tesco being the main anchor tenant) smacked in the middle of Old Klang Road KL. The kopitiam style restaurant was packed to the brim when we arrived, which was more often than not a sign that the food is good.

So here's what we had. For those of you who love Penang food, get ready a hanky to wipe off your drool...

This plate of char koay teow cost a whopping RM22.90 but it was quite justifiable with 7 medium-size prawns... only 6 prawns here as my starving hubs pecked one just as the plate was placed on the table...

Nasi lemak set with Penang lobak...

Fried rice for my fan thoong aka rice pot Alycia...

Fish balls noodles soup... this is however nothing to shout about.

Prawn paste chee cheong fun. Love this plate of carbs as I love prawn paste. The prawn paste was thick and the noodles smooth.

Breakfast set... kaya was sandwiched between the toasted bread. I liked the caramel kaya so much that I asked for another serving, at no extra cost.

Ice Kacang topped with a scoop of ice cream...

Food was great but I do think that the plate of char koay teow was over-priced. There will be a second visit to this kopitiam, when we next shop for our groceries at Tesco.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

For the past few weeks, Baby has been writing and drawing. She can now recognize almost all the letters of the alphabet and numbers as well as write them. Whenever she writes a letter or number, she will proudly show me what she had written. I think it is a big mile stone for her since I did not do much to teach her, apart from letting her play with my iPad2 and laptop to learn them on her own.

Here, she has drawn a cat or was it a dog? Whatever it is, all her drawings of living things now look the same - with a roundish face, 2 eyes, nose, ears, hair and a big smiley face :D

Sunday, September 25, 2011

For those of you die-hard fans of Angry Birds or have kids who have been swept away by Angry Birds, do check out this RM4.99 shop in Viva Home mall @ Jalan Loke Yew. But sorry, I cannot remember the name of the shop. It was pretty late that night when we stepped into the mall. We had to hurriedly shop and pay as the workers were already pulling down the door shutters. So I did not really take notice of the name of the shop. It has the same concept like Daiso and 100 Yen Shop and sells almost the same stuff. There are even good quality and nice belts and hats. We spent quite a bit from this shop.

Angry Birds merchandise aplenty...

Was so tempted to grab an Angry Bird clock but I know that it will surely be kept in one of my drawers once it reaches our home.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

My mum has finally installed Skype and a webcam to her desktop computer. Now, she calls us to chat with us regularly. She would also show the girls what she had bought for them or made for them. But each time she calls, I need ear plugs and some Panadols for my headache as the girls will fight and holler in order to get the best position to see and chat with granny!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Alycia often asks me why her baby sister is so 'weird'. When I asked her why she called her sister weird, she told me "because she does not talk like a baby. She talks like a 6 year old girl"! She told me that she wished Cassandra is still like a crawling baby and will always be cute LOL!!!

Just now while tucking them into bed, Alycia revealed her 'secret' to me... which touched the pit of my heart.

Alycia - mummy, do you know that every morning before going to school, I will lie down next to Cassandra? I will pinch her cheeks like "eeeeeeshhh" (and showed me how 'geram' she pinched her baby sister's cheeks) and kiss her cheeks.

And as she was telling me her 'secret', I was wondering if they were twins in their past lives. I am really touched and amazed with Alycia's love towards her baby sister. I know she misses her baby sister a lot while she is at school.

Alycia also revealed another secret to me... that she has been secretly carrying Cassandra whenever I am busy and not looking! I have always forbidden Alycia from carrying Cassandra, lest she drops the fragile little thing onto the floor. But how am I to be angry to see such strong love and bond between these 2 sisters?

She ain't heavy. She's my baby sister! I love pinching her cheeks and carrying her to bits!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

For the past 1 week, my 6.5 year old girl has been telling me to pick her up late from school. School dismisses at 12:15pm but she has been instructing me to pick her up at 1pm instead. Once her daddy picked her up at 12:15pm on the dot and she came home bawling and whining for a good 1 hour!

Sherilyn - you always say that I give you lots of stress mah....so you come late and pick me up, less stress for you.

Me - and what else? Why do you want me to come late?

Sherilyn - so that I can help Ms P (her principal) stack up chairs and I can finish my homework there. I can also play with my day-care friends.

Me - so do you want me to send you to daycare? (Since last year, I have been contemplating sending this girl to daycare in the hope that this will help discipline her)

Sherilyn - NO NO! I don't want daycare. I just want you to pick me up at 1pm. Please don't come early OK?(Today she reminded me countless number of times to pick her up at 1pm again tomorrow.)

And so this social-butterfly comes home a very happy girl everyday ever since I gave her 45 minutes of after-school play-time in pre-school, for her to mingle with her friends, complete her homework and to feel good helping her teachers :D

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

We were invited by Shir Lin and Jeff to Joshua's 3rd birthday party @ Sierramas club house on Saturday. Shir Lin and Jeff are the girls former Sunday School teachers and they have now migrated to Singapore. The last time we went to Joshua's party at the same place was exactly 3 years ago for Joshua's full-moon party. How time flies and it really did seem like it was only recently that we attended his full-moon party.

While Sherilyn and Baby enjoyed themselves, my soon-to-be 8yo girl told me that it was boring. I guess my girl has outgrown birthday parties with clowns, balloons and toddlers. She has now graduated to the next level, to the tween stage or red alert stage ?? I hope not. My precious baby is really growing up too fast!

And now let the pix tell the rest of the story of our party. Thank you Shir Lin for inviting us and see you again at B's full-moon party perhaps?

My friend’s husband was brutally attacked in a robbery a few years ago. While she was Skype chatting with her husband one night, the connection was cut off all of a sudden. An intruder had entered the house of her husband, who was working and staying outstation. During the scuffle with the robber, her husband’s arm was almost severed. Somehow, he managed to rush himself to a nearby hospital and the arm was saved. He was however on prolonged medical leave and got a large sum of compensation from his insurers. Many of my friends do not have an insurance plan for themselves or their children. Do you have an insurance plan yet? If the answer is no, do check out www.wholesaleinsurance.net right now.

Monday, September 19, 2011

One of our favorite Chinese restaurants whenever we shop at Gardens is Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant. We were there again recently and this time, these are what we ordered:

Deep fried sweet potato balls. I find the balls a tad too chewy, which suggests that too much flour is used. I prefer the ones sold at our pasar malam, which are softer and has more sweet potatoes. Nonetheless, we noticed that almost every table has a plate of this deep fried 'bombs', which look really alluring and too hard to say NO to.

A meal at Fong Lye will never be complete if we do not the 'sam pei jie' chicken dish. This dish is cooked with basil leaves, Chinese cooking wine, ginger and garlic. On the right is 'mein seen' in red wine soup.

A set of fish slice cooked with tomato sauce and fried egg, a dish that most kids will heart...

Chicken cooked in rice wine set - my favorite dish. I almost never got tired of this dish during my 3 confinements. During my confinement, I could finish every single drop of the wine soup served to me, as no salt was used to cook the broth.

Jar Jiang Mien set. Tasty but I think I can cook a better one for the kiddos. I think this one is too black and too salty for my kiddos.

If you are planning to have lunch at Fong Lye @ Gardens Mid Valley, you better be there early, to beat the peak-hour periods. There is always a long bee line outside this restaurant on weekends and peak periods.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Baby and Sherilyn make good play mates. While Alycia takes her nap on most afternoons, my 2 other energizer bunnies will be playing. Sometimes Baby will take her nap too. But for Sherilyn, she hardly ever naps in the afternoon. She will play and play till no end. But sometimes when she's an angel, she will obediently bring her homework out from her school bag to do without any coercion from me.

Here, Sherilyn and Baby are in a playful mood. While Sherilyn is practicing for her spelling, Baby climbs onto the same chair.... and Sherilyn gives her a hug and calls her 'my bolster'. If only they can be such loving sisters everyday and not fight and squabble.

Friday, September 16, 2011

I have been having this nagging pain on my nape and shoulder blades lately. I think the pain is caused by spending too much time sitting in front of the computer. To relieve the pain, I use my loyal OTO Hans machine to give me a good electrifying shock to loosen up the veins, nerves and muscles on the achy parts.

So here I am - typing and getting my treatment in front of the PC. Being a multi-tasker, I also mark the work that I give to Alycia while getting my treatment :D

And oh yes, nothing beats the massage from warm, little hands from my 3 angels. I bribe them for a good massage everyday ahahahaha!!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Lately I have been having stiff and achy neck and achy shoulder blades, a result of working too long on the desktop computer. Sometimes I will 'electrify' my neck and shoulders with the OTO Hans machine to loosen up the nerves and sore muscles. But what I really love and need is a good massage - with human hands! So I have to rope in my girls to do it but the only way to get them to do it willingly is with bribes! And the TV is the reward. "NO TV if you don't massage me!!" How pathetic eh? I need to bribe my kids with kick backs to get them to give me a good massage! But the bribe is all worth it. My girls, especially Alycia can really do a good massage job, at the right points on my neck and shoulders. After each massage, I feel really good. I can feel my stiff muscles, veins and nerves all loosened up after the 15-minute massage session from my girls :D

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

As I was going through my pictures folder on the computer desktop, I found some old pictures of Alycia and Sherilyn taken several years back. Looking at the old pix brought me back in time to the year 2005 and 2006. Gosh, can't believe how fast time is zooming past us. It really felt like it was just yesterday that I was at the coffee house of PJ Hilton having buffet lunch with my hubs, Alycia (who was then 3YO in this pic) and Sherilyn (who was then 1YO+) ...

I can still remember vividly that day when this picture was taken.

and that's us in May 2005 @ Genji Japanese Restaurant, PJ Hilton, when Sherilyn was only 3 months old and Alycia was 17 months old.I can also remember crystal clear the events that transpired on that day. Good times will always be etched in our memory, don't they?

Friday, September 9, 2011

Baby is normally topless at home as she sweats easily. As I was bringing her to the bathroom to pee, I can't help but notice her protruding guitar-like bones on her body.

Me - Baby, you are so so skinny, like a skinny stray dog...

Baby - Then you give me some of your fat ok...

and then pretended to 'transfer' some of my fat to her own body with her tiny hands, LOL!!!

I was like huh? This 3YO girl talks like an adult. Where did she learn to say that?

2nd scenario

Whenever Baby sees her Sherilyn che che straying away at shopping malls, she will yell out to her che che, " hey come back Kay Yi!! Bad people will catch you, then cut all your hair, change your clothes, chop off your hands and legs and you will never see mummy again! Come back Kay Yi!!"

She is also a very good monitor. Each time we get into the car, she will remind her #2 che che to lock the door if daddy forgets to press the door central locking. She knows that her 2nd che che is very mischievous and she never fails to remind her che che to behave LOL!! I think she will make a very good class monitor in future.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Good quality ice creams like Haagen Dazs, New Zealand Ice Cream and Baskin Robins are very costly. My hubs like to buy these ice creams and I think it's such a waste of money to splurge on branded ice creams. I will never buy them for sure for I am an el cheapo! My girls love ice creams and so does everyone else in the family. Since I don't know how to make ice creams and don't have the time, I made the easier and faster version - ice lollies... with Vitagen, Ribena, yoghurt drinks, red bean tong sui and freshly squeezed orange juice. They are a hit with my girls and cost way cheaper than expensive branded ice creams.

Ice-lolly moulds from 100 Yen Shop costing RM4.90 and 4 bottles of Vitagen... total cost is less than RM10... cheap and nice!!

And my girls love them just as much as the 5-star ice-creams. So why not? Make my own el cheapo ice-lollies LOL!!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Our last stop at Pavillion was at Kindori Ice-Cream. Kindori Ice-Cream uses 100% blast frozen fresh fruits, 100% fresh milk, no colouring, no preservative and made on the spot! It's the ice-cream for health freaks and diet freaks as it's not very sweet. It's my kind of ice cream, iLike!

Lately, Alycia my 7.5YO has gone into an explosion of reading as a hobby. Initially, she only liked to read comics, sports news and celebrity wedding news. But lately, she is obsessed with Geronimo Stilton books and books on adventure, mystery, humour and ghosts! She can go on reading continuously for 6-7 hours reading 1-2 thick books, resting only to take her shower! I have tried introducing her to Enid Blyton books but this fella is only interested in books that I mentioned above.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Our first stop and purchase at Tokyo Street, Pavillion was at The Loaf. Hubs had heard about the tasty Japanese-style bun, Oyaki which is a cross between bun and doughnut with fillings. There were 5 flavors on display that day, namely green tea, lemon cream cheese, chicken mushrooms, chocolate walnut and almond with cheese.

Oyaki can be found in most of the bazaara in Japan and outside Japan during the Japan’s Festival celebration. The Loaf has modified the traditional Oyaki to The Modern Taisho Oyaki by using Butter Roll Dough stuffed with more than 10 varieties of sweets and savories ingredients each to bake in oven instead of using the frying pan.

The Loaf kiosk @ Tokyo Street, Pavillion...

Our pick - all 5 flavors, which entitled us to 1 free piece.

Verdict : very tasty indeed! Sure tastes better than doughnuts and buns. Very unique and not too sweet. Because of the petite size of the bun, I can easily chomp down all 6 for my dinner and if I did that, that would corrode me with a fat guilt and send me into an insomnia spell for I would be raring to hit the gym the next morning to run away all the calories!
My favorite is the green tea and almond flakes with cream cheese. Will surely get another half a dozen the next time we go to Pavillion.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Baby is taking after her #2 che cheh as she loves singing too. Lately, she has been creating her own lyrics for songs about anything and everything... a song when mummy is angry, a song when she gets scolded and whacked by mummy (these 2 songs never fail to put a smile back on my face whenever I am angry with her), a song about holiday, a song about taking her bath and the list goes. This fella sings all the time. I am indeed very impressed with this 3YO rascal! With good vocal training, I am pretty sure that these 2 girls will be very promising singers in future :D

Thursday, September 1, 2011

My little earnest helper who will help me on mornings that I have parcels to be collected by the courier guy. I have taught her how to separate the consignment notes and to place them in 2 separate stacks. She can do this job pretty well! Well done baby girl!

My skinny 3Y 4 M girl, who looks just like an Ethopian baby when she's topless.

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Health Freak Mommy

Health Freak Mommy has been writing advertorials - both local and international since April 2007. HFM writes reviews and advertorials on products, restaurants and food. If you need to place an advertorial in this blog, please email Shireen at shireenyong@gmail.com.